Tag Archives: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The shadow of the wind is the story-set up in post-Civil War Barcelona- of a young boy-Daniel-, whose life changes forever when he comes across a rare book written by an obscure author-Julian Carax- who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Daniel likes the book so much that he reads it in one go and is impressed with the way Carax has written the story. Something about that novel ignites the curiosity about the author and Daniel is all set to find Carax’s whereabouts. When he asks his father-a bookshop owner himself and other book dealers and shop owners about the author, nobody claims to have heard about the person Daniel is mentioning.

As Daniel grows, the mystery of Carax’s life grows too…Daniel hears that someone is desperately searching for all the copies of Carax’s books and destroying them to ashes. This piece of information deepens Daniel’s curiosity and he is determined to find Carax anyhow ! While on his way to solve the mystery, Daniel meets characters who seem to be coming out of Carax’s books.

So,does Daniel reach to the end of the maze ? Does he ever find Carax ? Does Carax even exist ? Questions like these would pop in your mind as you would progress in the novel. I bought this book on hunch like most of the times I do!The Shadow of the Windaccording to me does not fall into any specific genre. It is a story about books, love, friendship, fate, commitment and jealousy. The moment you think that you’ve almost solved the jig saw puzzle, that the author has presented, there would be another piece out of the puzzle that will be thrown at you…the characters appear real and you are made to think about them and the mysterious story that engulfs them all. At times it frightens you and sometimes it will surprise you. Like Daniel you without knowing start solving the puzzle..the mystery..the author Julian Carax ! The write-up is lovely.Carlos has done justice to the thriller !

It’s one of those books which you would not want to put down before you reach the end.